Saturday, January 29, 2011

REINCARNATION/REBIRTH AND EVIDENCE


( Bodh Gaya Tree- The place where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment. Picture taken in 2009)

( Bodh Gaya Tree- The place where Siddharta Gautama attained enlightenment. Picture taken in 2009)



When Buddha attained The Enlightenment under the bodhi tree he discovered people have been born again and again as long as they still have : Kilesa, Moha and Loba-
Kilesa is a mistake/sins (deluded mind)that we make , Moha is ignorant( no having right Buddha Dharma view) and Loba is being  Greedy. So people will be born again and again as long as they still have attachment to worldly affair( Greedy, Deluded mind,Ignorant)

Only after we don't cling for anything( money,power,sensual object) then we can cut the circle of rebirth( Samsara). This can be achieved by developing: SILA( set of moral conducts) , SAMADHI(right concentration), and PRAJNA( wisdom)---then we can end this circle of death and not coming to be reborn. It's not an easy job, thinking: oh ,well I am not going to be born again,  here we are all bound by our karma, we hit certain people today, in the next life we gonna repay them, so usually people will be reborn in almost the same location as his previous life. Average  people are being born again because of their attachment to their family( their fathers, mothers, wives, daughters, sons), also included here: Hate, Love, Revenge, Greedy, Selfishness, to sum up: their attachment to worldly affairs.

 When about to die, these people will have strong attachment to their wives or husbands, hoping to come back again to be reunited with their love one. People are so silly they even make a song that run like this: life after life we will be together.

Sakyamuni Buddha one day(using his penetration power) discovered that  his cousin(Nanda), had been together with Janapadakalyani as a wife and husband for 500 times of rebirth. So Nanda was very fond of his wife(Janapadakalyani) as they had been together for 500 times of birth circles( so strong this attachment they could not be separated more than 1 hours).

Their's attachment was so strong that Sakyamuni Buddha tried so many methods to separate them( Buddha wanted to make his cousin a monk) and it's failed, but finally Buddha found a good way to severe his cousin's attachment to his wife( I will not put the detail how Sakyamuni Buddha cleverly convinced Nanda to leave a home life because this story is too long). In short, finally Nanda became a monastic monk under Sakyamuni Buddha.

From the above account, I conclude the attachment to the people we love is very strong. Other people are more incline to attach to money. So they are  hoping to be coming back to look for more money, at the time when they die, they still wish they will come back next life to accumulate more wealth.( this is just one factor of so many factors that cause us to be reborn).

I remember my own auntie had some problem with money. She passed away already. She was always longing for money( and unfortunately she did not have much money in her life). So when she passed away I dreamed of giving her lots of money, and she sure she will be reborn with lots of money.

Also in my aunt life she loved to curse people. Her favorite sentence was: eat and you would burst your stomach. In Chinese or Teo Chiu dialect its sound: Ceng Tou. meaning go burst your stomach( when she ask other family member to eat). As a result when she was in her 50, she suffered big stomach disease, her stomach was very big with lots of water in it, and there was no cure for that .

So I advised her to repent her sins by burning incense stick, facing the sky and made a solemn promised/ vowed to regret her past deeds, said sorry to people who were offended by her action. After doing this repentance, one year later she passed away. Because of the seriousness of the matter that's why when she almost passed away I advise her to repent  her sins. It's always not to late to ask for forgiveness for the sins we did.

Now about reincarnation. Surprisingly around the world there are so many cases of Reincarnation. People remember their past lifes.
So here what Sakyamuni Buddha told us about people being born again and again because of their attachment is true. We are all being borned before, it's just we can not remember them. Well some people can remember it, usually if they died in a unnatural way. In Buddhism we also  lots of Chinese monks who can recall their previous life. It's said that Su Tung Po (the famous Chinese Poet lived few hundreds years ago) was the reincarnation of a Buddhist monk. That is why even Su Tong Po was a government official, but underneath his clothing, he wore monk's robe.

These extraordinary about reincarnation even occurred to people who don't believe it. The following link is about the reincarnation happened to different individuals in  USA.


This is a link to a person  in USA who recalled his past life as an painter artist.

And this is the link to an America boy who remembers his past life as a World War II Pilot. ABC News  was the one who conducting the interview with this boy, and many evidence comes out from this interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EWwzFwUOxA                        Part 1




The above link will take you to several accurate prove of Reincarnation. According to Buddhism We are all coming back to repay our karma, also because we still have attachment to this world. our life is just like a big candle full of mud in it, then we got to purify them, that is to burn them with good deed, when we do lots of good deed, this candle would melt quick otherwise it will stay the same , and we exhausted all our karma, then there is no more flame in the candle then we achieve freedom of no rebirth.

Of course there are lots of methods in Buddhism how to achieve the true happiness/ the real heaven/ Nirvana/Nibbana. The usual methods is to do lots of good deed, as Sakyamuni Buddha said when he achieved Enlightenment, He said: Purify your mind, do lot of good deeds , that's all main teaching of the Buddha. Other methods such as: Meditation, reciting Sutras/mantras, reciting Amitabha Buddha's names.

Reincarnation is still  alien to Western people, but not to Easterners like China, Japan, India  and most Asian countries. So many cases have been recorded in the history of China about reincarnation/rebirth, and there is no way you can not believe them as the prove is just so obvious.

This human body when they reincarnate ,they only change form( male,female, ugly, good looking) but the soul is the same soul that have been born again and again. This soul will never die, only the body dies.
Usually some people get can know who they are in their previous lifes through dreams. If they often dream of the same objects or person again and again that's a connotation that this might be their previous life. Other people ,like small kids, their memory are more vivid, so they don't need to dream but they could just remember their previous life up to age 6 or 7. Why ? because kids minds are still pure that's why they can see their true nature/ previous life. Once they deluded their mind after age 7, they know all the material words, so no a pure mind anymore then they will no longer remember their previous lifes.

 What I want to emphasize is we are the product of our past and present  life's conducts, and our present conducts will have consequences to our future reincarnation/rebirth.
And this is the last convincing case of Reincarnation,posted in youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfqewOtYRlI
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Video About a  Woman With Two Faces/ Video Tentang Wanita Dengan Dua Wajah.
 
English Translation for this video:

A Woman With Two Faces
 
Another interesting real story about karma. This woman age 21 when she first grew the tumor on her face. ( Chiang Cui San- the name of this woman) grew tumor on her face, and this tumor become bigger and bigger until it just looked like an old lady face( so as a result she had two faces). Why 2 faces? Read this story more then you will find the answer.
 
 Day and night she would saw a male ghost form standing in front of her. She could see him but could not touch him. One night in a dream: an old lady ( that's look exactly the same as the old lady face on her other face). This old lady said: You caused the death of my son. Chiang Cui San reply: I've never harm anybody all my life. As soon as Chiang Cui San said this sentence( that she never harmed anybody), appeared before her a young woman dress in old fashion Chinese style dress ( this was the kind of dress they wore  three or four  hundreds years back in China (this young woman in old style dress was Chiang Cui San's previous life). Standing next to this young woman( Chiang Cui San's previous life) was a young man, and they just got married. In this dreamed: the young woman caused the death of her husband purposely. So the ghost/soul of this young man decided to take revenge by pursuing her in her next life. The mother of this young man also decided to take revenge.
 
That's how the soul/ ghost of this old lady becomes a tumor/cancer in the face of Chiang Cui San. After knowing the cause of her tumor( old lady face), Chiang Cui San finally decided to recite Amitabha Buddha's names diligently. Strangely, the soul/ the ghost of the old lady become friendlier. While almost fall asleep, this old lady( ghost) would wake her up and encourage her to recite Buddha's names more.
 
Finally this young woman passed away at age 39, however when cremated many relics( looks like jewels with many colours) were produced. This is the evidence that this young woman repaid her karma and born in  the heaven of Amitabha Buddha. This interesting video located at the bottom of this page.
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Indonesian Translation for this video:
 
Wanita Dengan Dua Wajah
 
Cerita nyata tentang karma dan reinkarnasi. Tumor ini tumbuh dari kecil menjadi sangat besar. Pagi dan malam hari dia selalu melihat ada arwah berwujud laki laki berdiri di depan dia, bisa lihat tapi tidak bisa di sentuh, dia menjadi sangat ketakutan.

Pada suatu malam dalam mimpi datang seorang wanita tua/ juga sdh meninggal( ternyata wanita ini ibu dari arwah laki-laki yg sering muncul di depan dia) wanita ini berkata: kamu yang meyebabkan anak saya meninggal. Tapi dalam mimpi penderita tumor ini berkata seumur hidup dia tidak pernah mencelakai orang, begitu berkata begitu dalam mimpi, mendadak muncul bayangan wanita zaman kuno( zaman kerajaan Ching China), berpakain kuno dan disamping wanita ini( wanita kuno ini adalah penderita tumor pada kelahiran lampau) ada seorang laki-laki, tampaknya mereka segera akan menikah. Terjadi sesuatu dan pria ini mati( wanita ini penyebab kematian dia).

Maka itu pria ini bersumpah akan balas dendam dan arwah dia akan mencari wanita ini kemana saja. Begitu pula dengan ibu pria ini dia juga sangat dendam dan ingin membalas dendam. Maka dalam mimpi itu ibu pria ini bilang dia mencari penderita tumor ini sudah lama akhirnya ketemu juga. Kemudian mereka menjerma menjadi tumor di kepala wanita ini.
Setelah itu penderita tumor ini rajin sembahyang baca nama Amitabha Buddha, lama kelamaan arwah ini terpengaruh oleh kekuatan Buddha. Saat tertentu penderita tumor ini akan tertidur kelelahan dan arwah ini akan membangunkan dia buat sembahyang. Akhirnya wanita ini meninggal pada usia 39, dan di bakar dan ditemukan banyak Sarira, tanda bahwa sembahyang dia telah berhasil dan di lahirkan di surga Amitabha.

Video: Woman With Two Faces/ Video Wanita Dengan Dua Muka: This is the link for this video:


 


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Videos of a Buddhist who knew in advance his/her own departure. Part 3






Amitabha Budhha (阿彌陀佛) existences is for real, ( billions/unaccountable years  ago up to the present and to the -unaccountable years- future), there were numerous evidence from the past to the present of the power of Amitabha Buddha. Those who recite His name sincerely will be born in Pureland of Amitabha Buddha. The most recent evidence was Master Guang Qing  (廣欽老和尚)who entered Pureland in 1986. The remarkable photo evidence of  Master Guang Qing  entering Nirvana can be seen at this link:
http://www.bfnn.org/kuangchin/photo/photo20.htm
http://www.bfnn.org/kuangchin/photo/photo39.htm

This is another video, about an old granny  from China who recited Amitabha Buddha's names sincerely, and Kuan Im Posat (觀音菩薩) let her know in advance that Amitabha Buddha (阿彌陀佛)was going to pick her up to His Pureland (Heaven of Amitabha Buddha (西方極樂世界)) within 49 days. When the day came , and this old granny really passed away reciting Amitabha Buddha's name. The video link is here , taken from xuefo.net:
http://www.xuefo.net/video/show1_585.htm part 1
http://www.xuefo.net/video/show1_586.htm, part 2
This video was made based on true story.
However there is another video which was taken exactly when the Buddhist practitioner was  still alive and it was recorded until this old man passed away as exactly being told to him by Amitabha Buddha. This man passed away in 2003, in Si Chuan, China (四川), he foretold his own death day February 23, 2003 at 12  noon.

And they recorded this man's last 7 days living in the temple in the video. I watched this video already, however I gave it to others. I will try look for the link somewhere.

This is the video I am talking about. Just click it and you will watch video about a Buddhist Practitioner who sincerely recited Amitabha Buddha's names and he knew the date and time and year he was going to depart this world and they recorded the event of this old man 7 days before he passed away on the date exactly as was promised by the Buddha to him in a dream.

 They conducted 7 days of reciting Buddha's names in the temple in Si Chuan,China and they also recorded this event alive until this man bid  farewell to everybody and departed this world while reciting Budhha's name. Here is the link.( I will give details explanation in English about this video when I have time).

http://www.suttaworld.org/media/asf18/b01.asf


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48 vows of Amitabha Buddhas were made by Amitabha Buddha 10 kalpas ago(according to Amitabha Sutra)*.
From these 48 vows, 3 are very imporatant aspects to sentient being living in this earth. These vows no: 18, 19 and 20 have a good direct impact to our lifes here. These 3 vows are:


Vow 18: If I become a Buddha, the beings of the ten directions who after hearing my name, and thus awakened their highest faith and aspiration of rebirth in my country, even they only have such a thought of ten times, they are destinied to be born there( with the exception those who created five big offences/karma and those who blasphemed the Dharma), otherwise I will not become a Buddha.

Vow 19: If I become a Buddha, the beings of ten directions, who have directed their thoughts towards the Bodhi and cultivate various merits in the hope of rebirth in my country ( will be born in my country), if at the moment of their death, I don't come to fetch them with my assembly of retinue, then I will not become a Buddha.

Vow 20: Provided I become a Buddha, if the beings of ten directions, after having heard my name and longing to be born there, and they cultivate various merits for the purpose to be born in my heaven( Sukhavati Heaven), if they expectation failed, then I will not become a Buddha.
Then the rest of the 48 vows are mainly concern about: the conditions/ the goodness in this heaven, and the characteristics of this heaven.
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*according to WikIpedia, 1 kalpa(aoen) derived from Sangskrit word(कल्प kalpa). According to India's system, 1 kalpa is equal 4,32 billion years. So 10x4,32 billion=43,2 billion years.
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NAMO OMITOFO (南無阿彌陀佛)

Monday, January 24, 2011

Grand Master Guang Xuan Dharma Talk 學佛格言百則 - 廣玄法師著

I will give a tribute to Mrs. Aiteen for uploading this Grand Master Guang Xuan Dharma Talk. May she be blessed.

Monday, January 17, 2011

How I Met Grand Master Guang Xuan in China in 2008








In 2008 as Financial Crisis widespread in USA, at that time gasoline hit a record high of 4,8 per gallon. And this time I realized how  tragic this life is, many people  suffered. Finally I sat alone in the chair and thinking: How impermanent this life is? and decided: Yes my time to become a monk had finally arrive( after a long waiting -it's 19 years in waiting to become a monk).

In 2008, one of my disciple from Indonesia contacted me about a 100 years old monk they were going to visit in China, and they urged me to come along. I still hesitated at that time, for from my experience I  got lots of uncomfortable feeling about becoming a monk. But considering his age , I thought maybe I was going to find him worthy of visit and who knows I could became his disciple.

So I called my friend to find out more information about this monk.. So I was confirmed that this was the correct monk I was looking for to become my teacher. So immediately I bought a ticket to China.

First I went to Guangzhou (廣州) and met my Indonesian disciple there. And together went to Pu Zhao Chan Si Temple in China. So there at Pu Zhao Chan Si Temple I met Shifu Guang Xuan  (廣玄師父) for the first time. After observing his conduct for two weeks, I became his disciple. ( I got to make sure he don't involve with politics, power, name). When monks involve themselves with politics, seek power, fame, they are just destroying themselves in the long run.

So I finally shave my head and become a novice monk (Samanera, in Sanskrit) or ( 沙彌 in Chinese) there at Pu Zhao Chan Si Temple China. There were many conversation I have with Shifu Guang Xuan at that time which I conclude he is one of the few good monks left in this world. 

Master Guang Xuan always teaches me to be humble and low profile at all time. Besides, this is  his motto: One day no work, one day no eat.


At the  time Shifu shaved my head he told me to become a monk , we possessed nothing, no money, no fame, nothing left at all. only the soul left. He asked me could I do it? I said Yes, that's what I was looking for for a long time. That's how I end up meeting Master Guang Xuan and become a monk.


BAHASA INDONESIA

Pada tahun 2008, krisis economy menimpa America, harga minyak mencapai angka tertinggi yaitu sekitar $4,8 US per gallon. Banyak orang menderita akibatnya. Banyak perusahaan besar America bangkrut. Penderitaan dengan nyata terlihat dimana-mana. Sampai akhirnya satu hari saya duduk di kursi dan pikir kayaknya waktunya saya untuk jadi bhiksu sampai juga. Pada saat itu saya menyadari betapa tragis nya hidup ini( terhadap kebanyakan orang-orang...... karena saya sudah mengalami beberapa peristiwa tragis serupa , yaitu peristiwa keributan di Indonesia beberapa puluh tahun lalu).

Pada tahun 2008, salah seorang murid saya di Indonesia menghubungi dan memberitahukan bahwa mereka lagi mau mengunjungi bhiksu umur 100 tahun di China. Mereka mendesak saya untuk ikut serta, saya bilang saya pikir2 dulu. Tapi setelah menimbang usia bhiksu ini yang sudah 100, saya pikir i ni sudah pasti bhiksu yang benar2 baik dan bermutu sebagai guru yang baik, dan siapa tahu beliau bisa menjadi guru saya. Pada saat itu saya sudah memastikan diri untuk mengunjungi bhiksu ini di China, tapi sebelum itu saya mau dapat kepastian lebih lanjut maka saya telpon saya menceritakan tentang mimpi saya, Maka saya pun beli tiket ke China untuk ikut Yao Se Fa Hui yang diadakan bhiksu tua ini di Pu Zhao Chan Si China, Xia Men.

Akhirnya saya sampai juga di China di Xia Men, dan kita ketemu sama Shifu Guang Xuan. Saya berlutut, dan setelah beberapa hari disana mengutarakan niat saya untuk Cut Cia( jadi hwesio). Keputusan ini saya ambil setelah 2 minggu mengamati gerak gerik Master Guang Xuan. Setelah 2 minggu saya benar2 yakin bhiksu ini adalah bhiksu yang benar, maka saya pun berniat jadi murid dia.

Guru Guang Xuan bilang jadi bhiksu itu yang ada hanya roh ini, semua yang kita miliki:Uang, Nama, Kedudukan, bahkan badan ini sudah tidak ada lagi, dia tanya saya sanggup gak saya meninggalkan : Uang. Nama, Kedudukan? Saya bilang saya sanggup, ini yang sudah lama saya cari. Maka saya pun di terima murid oleh Master Guang Xuan.  Itulah asal mula saya berjumpa dan menjadi murid Master Guang Xuan.





Grand Master Guang Qin(廣欽老和尚, 1892-1986)


 
Those above photo was actually a moon taken at the time when  Master Guang Qin passed away, it just transformed into a nice looking lotus.
 




Grand Master Guang Qin(廣欽老和尚, 1892-1986)

Master Guang Qin was a remarkable monk. He passed away in 1986 in Taiwan.
The following are website about him. This website show Master Guang Qin emitted orange colour light from inside the casket that keep his body.
http://www.bfnn.org/kuangchin/photo/photo20.htm
http://www.bfnn.org/kuangchin/photo/photo39.htm
It's a coincidence the monk I admire happened to be Master Guang Xuan' elder brother in Dharma( Indeed both Great Master Guang Qin and Great Master Guang Xuan were my inspiration to cultivate the Way).  I first heard about  Master Guang Qin when I was a Buddhist priest in Surabaya, Indonesia ( from a Buddhist magazine in Indonesia) but at that time Master Guang Qin already entered Nirvana.  Below a short documentary about Grand Master Guang Qin posted on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIcolvM9Qqg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dfsIEfqTRk&feature=related

Maybe it's a coincidence that I practice Pureland method since a was a child that made me the affinity to know the greatness of Master Guang Qin and the rigorous way he maintained in his practice.

 Both Master Guang Xuan and Master Guang Qin were disciples of Great Master Hong Yi -弘一大师( well known in Buddhist circle , especially in China as Vinaya Master). 

A Short Biography of Master Guang Qin.

 Master Kuang-ch'in (1892 - 1986) was born in Hui-an County of Fu-chien province in China. He was given up for adoption when he was four and was not educated, hence, illiterate.

He became a monk at the age of twenty-seven, but did not receive the formal bhiksu (monk) precepts until the age of forty-two. Meanwhile, he practiced asceticism and recitation (of the name of Amitabha Buddha).

After receiving the full bhiksu precepts, he dwelled in a cave in the mountains where he practiced meditation alone for thirteen years and attained an elevated level.

He came to Taiwan in 1947 and founded several monasteries, among them the Ch'eng-tien Temple of Taipei and Miao-tung Temple of Kao-hsiung. He had inspired a great many people into the dual practice of Zen and Pure Land doctrines. Those all the description above was taken/copy and paste directy from this source:
http://vajrasword.blogspot.com/p/analects-of-master-kuang-chin.html

In Taiwan Master Guang Qin was known as Sui Guo He Shang( the Master who ate fruits only), for his only diet was eating fruits ( this starting when he was 50 years old if I am not mistaken). Once people asked him why he only ate fruits. Then Master Guang Qin answered in a very humble way: Once he lived for several years in the forest to practice Buddhism, and fruits was the only option for him to eat. After that it become a habbit so he just continued eating fruits.





Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Very Short Biography of Seng Zhuan Zhong (僧傳宗)








 1.  I moved to California in 2006, and I feel wow California was cool...... the weather here is so nice, warm not like New York( in around 2003 New York hit record low of -40 F).
2. So I lived comfortably here until The Financial Meltdown hit USA.
3. So this time I decided to become a monk, it was in 2008.

Hence it's called  A Very Short Biography, because it's indeed A Very Short Biography


                                                           南无阿弥陀佛
 

In memory of my mom August 26,2011
All is well and may all beings be happy. Omitofo